The present invention relates generally to pressure relief valve monitoring and more particularly to monitoring a pressure relief valve for the presence of leaks with a combination of leak detection sensors and an online condition monitoring system.
Pressure relief valves are used in a variety of industrial applications to regulate the flow of process materials by opening or closing various passageways. One particular industrial application where pressure relief valves are used is within oil refineries. A leak occurring at a pressure relief valve within an oil refinery can lead to explosions and safety issues, fines imposed for flare events and releases of hazardous substances to the atmosphere. Any one of these incidents can result in reactive maintenance, increased maintenance costs and consequent reduction in oil refinery production. In order to prevent these incidents from occurring, operators of the oil refinery have an interest in monitoring these pressure safety release valves and detecting leaks as soon as possible. Because a typical oil refinery will have hundreds or even thousands of pressure relief valves, the costs and time associated with monitoring these valves can be appreciable. Reducing the costs and time associated with managing these valves can have a large impact on the profitability and reputation of the oil refinery. However, current approaches in monitoring pressure relief valves have issues with respect to effectiveness and accuracy in detecting leaks. For example, many of these current approaches in monitoring pressure relief valves generate nuisance alarms (i.e., false positives) that are likely due to acoustic noise sources such as turbulence created from hose downs, steam whistles or piping vibrations (e.g., ambient plant noise) in the vicinity of the valves and not the presence of a leak.